Sealing closure



Nov. 2, 1954 i E. E. GOSSNER SEALING CLOSURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 11 1951 INVENTOR q Louis Ernest Elwin-Gossner 5 xrromvzms' Nov. 2, 1954 E. E. sossNER 2,693,013

SEALING CLOSURE Filed Dec. 11, 1951 '2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR I Louis Ernest E l win Gossner ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofifice Patented Nov. 2, 1954 SEALING CLOSURE Louis Ernest Elwin Gossner, San Francisco, Calif., assignor to Treg, Inc San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of California Application December 11, 1951, Serial No. 260,988

3 Claims. (Cl. 24205.1)

This invention pertains to improvements in double slide fastener sealing closures and particularly to improvements in double slide heads therefor. The invention is an improvement on the structure disclosed in my prior patent, No. 2,641,037.

In my prior patent the invention comprised broadly the provision of upper and lower rows of slide fastener teeth between which were disposed sealing strips to seal the closure. The slide head utilized comprised two conventional, horizontal slides joined at their forward extremities by a suitable post, said slides being non-angular and lying in parallel planes.

The improved slide head of the present invention is predicated on applicants discovery that when two rows of slide fastener teeth are closed on opposite sides of a sealing strip the tapes of the teeth tend to assume a slight angle as the teeth are pulled in to the slide. Further, by angularly inclining the tracks of the upper slide downwardly and by inclining the tracks of the lower slide upwardly all unnecessary slack in the tooth tapes may be eliminated and the tendency of the tapes to hump and bind at the slide may be eliminated. In prior devices, where the tracks of the slide were disposed horizontally in the same plane, it was necessary to provide a degree of slack in the tooth tapes to accommodate the angularity of the tapes at the lateral edges of the tracks. By eliminating this slack in the tapes any tendency of the tapes to loosen or slack off after the teeth have been joined is eliminated and the faces of the sealing strips are maintained in tight sealing engagement after passage of the slide. Thus, any tendency of the faces of the sealing strips to separate is eliminated and an unbroken seal results.

Thus, the present invention contemplates the provision of a double slide member for such sealing closures wherein the tooth tracks of each of the slides thereof are inclined to each other along the longitudinal axis of the slide at such an angle as to accommodate the angularity of the upper and lower teeth and tapes and to eliminate all unnecessary strain and binding on the tapes and sealing strip segments. By making the slides of such angular cross-section all unnecessary slack in the tapes may be eliminated, all binding done away with and, as the slack is eliminated, a much tighter contact between the faces of the sealing strips is effected.

It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved double slide fastener head of improved shape and structure which eliminates any tendency to bind or jam in operation and which makes possible a tight and impervious seal between the faces of the sealing strips.

It is another object of this invention to provide improved sealing strip members for such a sealing closure.

It is another object of the present invention to provide improved actuating means for such a head.

It is a further object of this invention to provide improved configuration for the faces of the sealing strips.

Other and further objects of this invention will become apparent as this specification proceeds.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is a side elevation of an improved double slide for sealing closures made in conformity with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the improved double slide member; 1

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the improved double slide member;

Fig. 4 is a top plan View of the improved double slide member;

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view of the improved double slide member, as taken on line A--A of Fig. 4, and including a showing of the slide fastener teeth and tapes and the sealing strip members in position therein;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the improved double slide member;

Fig. 7 is a cross sectional view of one embodiment of an improved sealing strip made in accordance with the present invention, showing the slide fastener teeth and tapes in closed position;

Fig. 8 is a cross sectional view of another embodiment of the improved sealing strip, showing the slide fastener teeth and tapes in closed position;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view, partially in section, of a closed extremity of two sealing strips showing the ellipticgl recess provided for the reception of the slide post; an

Fig. 10 is a fragmentary perspective View of one embodiment of a sealing strip made in accordance with the present invention.

in the drawings, Figs. 1, 2 and 3, 10 indicates broadly the improved double slide head, which comprises angular upper slide member 11 and angular lower slide member 12 which are appropriately connected at their forward center extremities by elliptical post 13. It will be seen from Fig. 4 that post 13 is preferably substantially elliptical in cross section, widened toward its medial section and tapered rearwardly to a rather finely rounded edge. Post 13 is preferably slightly greater in height at its rearward edge than the width of the meeting faces of the sealing strip heads, as will be further discussed.

It will be further noted that the forward, lower surface of lower plate 15 of upper slide 11 is angularly inclmed upwardly from the rear edge of post 13 to its forward edge, and the upper, forward surface of plate 22 of lower slide 12 is correspondingly downwardly inclined from the rear edge of post 13 to its forward edge. It will thus be seen that the space between the inner surfaces of these plates at the front, or entering edge of post 13 is wider than the space therebetween at its rearward edge. This w dened space is provided to ease or guide the faces of the sealing strip heads into the space between these surfaces and to eliminate binding of the sealing strips at this point.

Upper slide member 11 comprises upper plate 14 and lower plate 15. As shown, the inner surfaces 14 of upper plate 14 are preferably divided along their longitudinal axis into two downwardly disposed, angular segments. The angularity of these segments may be varied, as required. It has been determined, however, that in the usual garment closure the angularity of each segment to the horizontal will be on the order of 8. The inner surfaces 15 of lower plate 15 are also downwardly inclined at a similar angle to the horizontal and lie in planes respectively parallel to the planes of the inner surfaces 14 of upper plate 14. Upper plate 14 and lower plate 15 are joined at their medial front centers by elliptical post 16 which is preferably broadened at its forward extremity, as shown. Upper plate 14 carries downwardly disposed rectilinear shoulders 17 and 18 along its lower lateral edges. Shoulders 17 and 13 oppose reduced shoulders 19 and 2%) provided along the upper lateral edges of lower plate 15. It will be noted that depending shoulders 17 and 18 are of substantially twice the height of upstanding shoulders 19 and 20 and that the pairs of shoulders 17-19 and 1820 are respectively aligned. As shown, an appropriate space is provided therebetween to accommodate the tapes for the slide fastener teeth, as will be hereinafter discussed in more detail.

Referring to lower slide 12, it will be seen that upper plate 22 and lower plate 23 are again, as in upper slide 11, divided longitudinally and respectively into parallel angular segments. The inner surfaces 22" of upper plate 22 as shown are angularly disposed upwardly from the horizontal at an acute angle corresponding to the angularity of the upper slide plates, respectively, and the inner surfaces 23 of lower plate 23 are similarly angularly inclined upwardly from the longitudinal axis of plate 23 to provide upwardly inclined and parallel inner surfaces for each half of lower slide 12. Upper plate 22 is provided along its lower lateral extremities with depending shoulders 24 and 25 and lower plate 23 is provided with upwardly extending shoulders 26 and 27. Shoulders 26 and 27 of lower plate 23 are of substantially twice the height of upper, depending shoulders 24 and 25 of plate 22. As shown, plates 22 and 23 of lower slide 12 are appropriately connected by elliptical post 28, which is preferably elliptical in cross section, tapering to the rear, as shown.

It will thus be seen that the inner surfaces 14and 15' of upper slide 11 lie in planes parallel to each other and disposed downwardly, respectively, at an acute angle to the horizontal. of lower slide 12 are respectively parallel and are upwardly inclined at a similar angle.

The lower surfaces of plate 15 and the upper surfaces of plate 22 are also preferably angularly disposed with respect to each other along their longitudinal axes to ac commodate the angular upper and lower surfaces of the wedge-shaped heads of the sealing strips, 44 and 45.

Thus, the tooth tracks of upper slide 11 are downwardly inclined while the tooth tracks of lower slide 12 are upwardly inclined at a similar angle. This angularity of the tracks is designed to compensate for the angularity of the teeth and tapes, as will be discussed at greater length later in this specification.

The forward lateral extremities 30 of upper plate 14 of slide 11 are preferably smoothly upwardly curved and the forward lateral extremities 31 of lower plate 23 of lower slide 12 are similarly smoothly curved downwardly.

Longitudinal bracket 33 is provided on the upper surface of upper slide 11 along its longitudinal axis and preferably extends from the forward extremity thereof to its rearward extremity. Bracket 33 is suitably slidably engaged by bale 34 of actuating tab 35. Tab 35 is preferably of appreciable length, i. e., on the order of twice the length of the slide, to provide suitable leverage. Bale 34 is preferably ofsubstantially rectangular shape and is appropriately provided in the lower extremity of tab 35 in such fashion that it will slide freely under bracket 33 when thetab is raised to a vertical position but will bind between the shoulder of the tab and the interior surface of bracket 33 when the tab is angularly inclined with respect thereto. The tab and bale are so formed to allow the tab to' be used-as a forcing lever for double slide 10 when the tab is arigularly inclined or forced downwardly with respect to bracket 33.

It will be seen from a perusal of Fig. 4 that the respective depending and;upwardly extending shoulders of slides 11 and 12 are preferably smoothly outwardly curved at their forward extremities and are then curved inwardly and extend rearwardly in rectilinear parallel position to the rear extremity of slide 10.

Referring to Fig. 5, this figure represents a cross sectional view of the improved double slide with the slide fastener'teeth in position in the angular tracks of upper and lower slides 11 and 12 and with the wedge-shaped sealing strip heads 44 and 45 appropriately in position in the angular spaces between the lower and upper surfaces, respectively, of slides 11 and 12. In this figure the teeth T of the upper slide fastener are shown in position between shoulders 11-19 and 18-20 of upper slide 11 and lower teeth T are shown in position between shoulders 24-26 and 25-27 of lower slide 12. Tapes 40-41 and 42-43 of teeth T and T, respectively, are shown extending outwardly therefrom through the spaces between the respective shoulders of slides 11 and 12 and are appropriately joined to the outer margins O of sealing strips 44 and 45, as by cementing, just outwardly of outer shoulders S thereof. It will be seen that tapes 40-41 and 42-43 make acute angles to the outer margins O of sealing strips 44 and 45. Tapes 40-41 and 42-43 meet and are joined to sealing strips 44 and 45, respectively, just beyond shoulders S where the strips have become of reduced thickness.

Various embodiments of the iniproved sealing strip members are shown in Figs. 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Likewise, the inner surfaces 22' and 23 The inner sealing head extremities of the sealing strips are preferably of tapered or wedge-shaped cross section to provide a measure of rigidity to the inner extremities. As shown in the drawings the wedge-shaped, outwardly reduced sealing heads terminate in small rec tilinear shoulders S at theirlouter extremities. The outer margins O of the scaling strips, extending from shoulders S out to the edges thereof are preferably of uniform reduced thickness and of considerable flexibility, the outer margins of the strips being preferably about Lhrede times as wide as the inner, wedge-shaped meeting ea s.

As will be seen fromPigs. 5, 7 and 8 the tooth tapes extend outwardly above the wedge-shaped sealing heads just outwardly of the shoulders S a small segment of The sealing strips are preferably-molded from relatively flexible rubber, the meeting faces of the sealing strips being, as shown, substantially rectilinear and of substantially four times the thickness of the flexible outer margins thereof.

'slitted', as will be hereinafter discussed in more detail.

d 1 The meeting faces may be; smooth and unslitted or they may be longitudinally the outer, flexible margins O of the strips is maintained between shoulders S and the line along which the cementing of the tapes to" the strips is initiated, thus providing a flexible internal mounting for the wedgeshaped heads inside the cemented lines of the tapes. Therefore, it'will be 'se'en'that' the inner, wedge-shaped portions of the sealing strips, even with their meeting faces in close sealing engagement are so flexibly contained between the tapes as to ride"freely between the tapes to compensate for any distortion thereof and to further prevent breaking "of the seal therebe'tween.

Due to 'the fact that the lateralline of thin, flexible rubber is maintained between shoulders S of the sealingheads of the strips and the cement-lines of the tapes no leverage is provided between the cement lines,'wliich are fairly rigid, 'and the sealing heads which could distort the 'faces of the'strips out of engagement; Thus, the wedge-shaped sealing heads of the .strip's substantially'float within the pocket formed by the tapes.

By providing this novel sealing strip configuration, with the tooth tapes 'aflixed to 'the strips outwardly of the lines of shoulders S, when the slide fastener teeth'T are drawn into engagement 'over the sealing .heads of thesealing strips and theface's' thereof are thus forced ll'lllO'ClOSC engagement with each other the rigid inner seaI thereby provided will 'be flexibly siipp'ortedboth-on the inner-flexible'portions of the stripsv adjacent shoulders S and'on the flexible outer extremities of the strips 0. Thus, regardless of the amount of twisting, bending or distortion-of the closure line 'the compressed meeting faces of the sealing strips will always remain in .close, sealing engagement, distortion being compensated for by btoth the inner and outerflexible portions .ofthe sealing s rips.

As shown in Fig. 5, sealing strips 44 and 45.are.preferably molded of rubber or analogousmaterial and are preferably provided with substantially rectilinear meeting faces ofonlythe slightest curvature, i. e., preferably on the. order of% arc on a 4 diameter. vAs "stated above,the heads ofthe sealing-strips are preferably of substantially triangular or wedge-shaped cross 'section,w1destat their meeting faces and tapering outwardly'therefrom l to shoulders 'S. Asstated above, the extended outer 'marginsO of the strips areof uniform reduced thickness and considerable flexibility toprovide a flexible suspension for the sealing heads.

If desired, one or both of the faceso'f sealing strips -44 and 45 fnay be longitudinally slitted along their meeting facestoa depth approximately equal to one-third of the width of the faces. These longitudinal slits may vary m number, the embodiment shown inFig. 5 being provided with four slits 46iintheiface of rriale=strip 44, so arranged: as to leave a heavy 'central'boss 'or section These longitudinal-slits tendto multiply the sealmg action of the faces. so that-in extreme. cases even ifzan outer edge of the strips should separate a. perfectaseal will still be maintained by theinnersegments of theface.

Various'embpdnnents of the sealing stripstructures are shown in Figs. 7,8, 9 and '10. Thus, in Fig. 7 both faces of the sealing strips 44 and 45 carry fourl'ongitud'inalparallel slits with heavycentralbosses '43jtherebetween. The sealing strips are shown with their meetvi-ng faces :b'earin'g' closely against each other between the closed rows of teeth, after the double slide 10 has been actuated to draw the teeth into engagement.

In Fig. 8 an alternative embodiment of the sealing strip structure is shown in which the female side of the strip 45 is provided with live equally spaced, longitudinal slits, the face of male strip 44 being unslitted, and in addition small projecting tongues 5'0 and 51 are provided respectively along the upper surface of the female strip and along the lower surface. of the male strip. Tongue 50 laps over the upper edge of the male strip 44 and tongue 51 laps under the lower edge of female strip 45 further to improve the seal therebetween.

1n the embodiment shown in Fig. 9 the sealing faces of both of the sealing heads of the sealing strips are shown to be smooth and unslitted. The faces are further shown to be flat and uncurved. A highly satisfactory seal may be obtained with this unslitted and rectilinear embodiment of the faces of the sealing strips.

Fig. 10 shows an embodiment of the sealing strip in which the face of the strip is flat, smooth and unslitted.

The crux of the novelty of the present invention resides first in the novel angularity of the planes of the respective tooth slides of the upper and lower slides 11 and 12, in the improved configuration thereof and in the improved sealing strip structure as disclosed in Figs. 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10. In the past, the slide tracks of slide fasteners have been aligned in the same horizontal plane, which arrangement has had numerous disadvantages. With the interior surfaces of the slide tracks in the same horizontal plane considerable distortion in the tapes extending to the teeth in the slide tracks resulted, necessitating a degree of slack in the tapes. This slack caused humping and jamming of the tapes in the slide and made it difficult to obtain a tight seal between the faces of the sealing strips. The improved slide herein described is designed to accommodate itself to the angularity of the teeth and the tapes extending from the strips to the teeth and to reduce friction between the slide and the tapes to an absolute minimum. It was further designed to eliminate all unnecessary slack in the tapes and to allow an extremely tight engagement between the opposed faces of the sealing strips after the teeth of the two slide fastener trains have been united.

To further reduce friction and to eliminate pressure on and slack in the tooth tapes the inner shoulders 19-20 and 24 -25 of the slides 11 and 12 are made considerably lower than the outer shoulders. This structure is clearly shown in the cross-sectional view of the combined double slide, teeth, tapes and sealing strips shown in Fig. 5 of the drawing, which figure is a crosssectional view as taken on line AA of Fig. 4, just prior to the joining of the teeth and sealing strips. It will be seen from this figure that tapes 4041 and 42-43 practically clear shoulders 19-40 and 24-25 and that friction between the shoulders and tapes at these points is greatly reduced. Thus, it will be seen that the reduction in friction and in the tendency to bind results from a combination, first of the angularity of the internal surfaces of slides 11 and 12 and secondly from the reduction in height of the inner shoulders thereof, additional security being provided by increasing the height of outer shoulders 1718 and 2627 to eliminate any possibility of teeth T or T escaping from the confines of the slide tracks of slides 11 or 12.

The improved angular configuration of the double slide 10 enables the realization of a much tighter juncture between the opposed faces of the sealing strip heads 44 and 45 due to the elimination of all unnecessary slack in the teeth tapes and the elimination of tension and pressure on the tapes.

Post 13, joining upper slide 11 and lower slide 12 is preferably substantially elliptical or egg-shaped in cross section, as has been previously stated. It is preferably rather broadly curved at its forward extremity, as shown, and tapers rearwardly to a finely curved rear extremity to provide an impervious seal between its outer edges and the recessed faces of the sealing strips at the extremity of the closure line. It has been determined that this elliptical post structure will provide a tight seal at all points about its periphery when the post 13 is seated in elliptical recess 52 at the closed extremity of the sealing strip.

The closed end of the sealing strips, including post recess 52, is shown in section and perspective in Fig. 9. As will be seen, recess 52 is formed adjacent the closed end of the sealing strips by making elliptical cut-outs 53 and 54 in the opposed faces of the sealing strips adjacent their closed end. Recess 52 is preferably of the same configuration as post 13, in cross section, and .is thus of elliptical shape, broader at its forward extremity thanat its rear extremity, and is preferably of slightly smaller circumference than post '13 to insure a completely fluid-tight seating of post 13 therein, at the end of travel of slide 10. Due to the elliptical shapes of post 13 and post recess 52 the peripheral walls of post 13 bear tightly against the walls of recess 52 at all points about their circumference, thus providing a completely fluid-tight and unbreakable seal for post 13 at the closed end of the sealing strip.

The hnproved face configuration of the sealing strips and the improved longitudinal slitting thereof isof the utmost importance. It has been determined through extensive experimentation that if a slight curvature is utilized in these faces efforts to break the faces of the strips apart by twisting or bending the joint along the tooth lines will actually result in a closer binding of the edges of the sealing strips opposed to the side of the strips on which the pressure is being applied. Further, by providing the four-slit structure as shown in Fig. 7 the optimum strength and sealing pressure is evolved. In this embodiment of the sealing strip if pressure is applied from above, the two lower slits are compressed into each other, strength being provided by the central bosses 48 to give an impervious seal even though there may be some slight separation along the upper edges of the sealing strips.

As has been previously stated, the comparatively rigid, wedge-shaped inner heads of the sealing strips are preferably of substantially four times the thickness of the lateral, flexible margins 0 thereof, at their faces. By extending the flexible lateral margins of the strips and by cementing the tooth tapes outwardly of the lines of shoulders S of the head portions thereof on the flexible outer portions of the strips, when the teeth are meshed and the sealing faces of the strips are thus forced into close engagement the sealed closure line is flexibly supported on both the inner and the outer flexible portions of the strips, making the seal impervious regardless of the extent of distortion of the closure line.

The invention described herein is subject to numerous embodiments without departing from the spirit thereof. The angularity of the slide tracks of the double slides may be varied within reasonable limits depending upon the width of the meeting faces of the sealing strips and the angularity of the tapes, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The configuration of the meeting faces of the sealing strips may be modified without departing from the spirit of the invention. The faces may be smooth and unslitted, they may both be flat, the number of slits may be increased or reduced, or the curvature of the edges may be increased without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The foregoing specification is by way of illustration only. Attention is directed to the appended claims for a limitation of the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a double slide fastener sealing closure comprising upper and lower lines of closure teeth with sealing strip members therebetween, a double slide head, an upper slide on said head angularly inclined downwardly along its longitudinal axis and registering with the upper row of closure teeth, a lower slide affixed below said upper slide and lying in a plane parallel thereto registering with the lower row of teeth and angularly inclined upwardly along its longitudinal axis, and triangular sealing strip members afiixed between said lines of teeth fitted in close sliding relationship between the angularly disposed inner surfaces of said upper and lower slides and provided with substantially rectilinear, but slightly curved, male and female faces provided with longitudinal parallel slits and an enlarged central boss therebetween.

2. In a double slide fastener sealing closure comprising upper and lower lines of closure teeth with sealing strip members therebetween, a double slide head, an upper slide on said head angularly inclined downwardly along its longitudinal axis and registering with the upper row of closure teeth, a lower slide afiixed below said upper slide and lying in a plane parallel thereto registering with the lower row of teeth and angularly inclined upwardly along its longitudinal axis, and triangular sealing strip members affixed between said lines of teeth sliding freesmegma lybetween the-angular inner surfaces:of=said-npper-and lower slides and provided-with substantially.rreetilinear, but slightly curved, maleand 'femal'e faces, -saidmale face being provided with a longitudinal tongue-fitting under said-female faceand said female'facabeing provided with .a longitudinal tongue fitting over the 'tupper edge of saidmaIe face.

In adouble slide fastener -sealing -.closure com.- prising upper and lower lines of elosnre teeth-with sealmg strip; members 1 therebetween, a double slide head, an upper slide on said'headangular1y-inclined downwardly along its longitudinal axis an'd registering with tlre upper row of closure teeth, a -1ower =-slide affixed lzaelow-said upper slide and1lying-ima planet'parallel there-to registeringwith the lower row=of teeth andkangularlyinclined upwardly along its longitudinal axis,'and wedge shaped, "outwardly" reduced sealing strip :mernbers afiixed he- =tween said lines of teeth closely .fitting and freely sli'dingbetween the angular inner =surfaces of said angularly disposed upper andilowerslides an'd provided with t8 substantially rectilinear "male and female faces, said male 'f'acebeing provided' "with-a longitudinal tonguefitt ing under/said fernale "facet-and saidfemale face being provided -w-ith a longitudinal tongue fitting overthe upper edge =01: said =male face,

References Cited in the: file of this: patent I I UNITED ISTATESYPATENTS' 

